AG approves El-Gamal’s 45 Park Place

Sharif El-Gamal’s luxury condominium tower at 45 Park Place received approval from the New York Attorney General’s office, paving the way for the developer to launch sales at the Lower Manhattan project.

El-Gamal’s Soho Properties is projecting a total sellout of $391.9 million for the 50 apartments, according to the offering plan, which the AG greenlit on Nov. 19. The tower will rise 70 stories and house several floor-through condominiums.

Building permits for the project were approved this week and construction will start in the first quarter, a spokesperson for the project told The Real Deal. Stribling & Associates plans to open a sales gallery in late spring.

El-Gamal is planning to ask more than $3,000 per square foot at the 667-foot Michel Abboud-designed building, he told Bloomberg in September. “The tower is going to be a market-maker,” he said at the time. “We’ve perfected a building that’s really going to share in a unique moment.”

That “unique moment,” of course, refers to the retail, commercial and residential boom underway in Lower Manhattan. Silverstein Properties’ 30 Park Place will house 157 condos and a Four Seasons Hotel. Residences at the Robert A.M. Stern-designed building have an average sales price of $3,292 per square foot, according to StreetEasy.

Alchemy Properties is also developing condos at the nearby Woolworth Building, where units start at $3.5 million for a 1,200-square-foot pad on the 44th floor. The penthouse is priced at a record-breaking $110 million, though there have been rumblings of slow sales at the project.

El-Gamal started assembling the land for 45 Park Place in 2009. The residential tower will have two duplex penthouses. Fifteen full-floor units will span 3,200 to 3,700 square feet, and amenities will include an Olympic size swimming pool and concierge services.

In 2010, the developer proposed a 15-story Islamic Center for the adjacent 51 Park Place, a project that critics dubbed the “Ground Zero Mosque” given its proximity to the World Trade Center site. He’s now building a three-story Islamic museum at the site, which is being designed by Jean Nouvel.